1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic circuits, and more particularly, to flop circuits for providing temporary storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flip-flops and other types of flop circuits are well known in the art of digital circuits. Flop circuits are designed to provide temporary storage of logic values and to propagate these values synchronously with a clock signal. Common types of flop circuits include D-type flip-flops, J-K flip-flops, S-R flip-flops, and so forth. Pulse flops are another form of flop circuit that propagates logic values synchronously with a pulse. Each of these flop circuits is configured to provide at least one output signal based on the input signal(s).
Many types of flop circuits include a master stage and a slave stage. One or more data input signals and a clock signal (or pulse) may be input into the master stage. The master stage may produce one or more additional signals in response to the data input signals. These additional signals may then be conveyed to the slave stage responsive to the master stage receiving an edge of the clock signal or a pulse. The slave stage may then perform additional logic functions on the signals received from the master stage and provide one or more output signals (e.g., an output data signal and a complement of the output data signal).
In choosing a flop circuit for a particular application, a number of different factors may be considered. These factors may include consideration of the input and output signals required for the particular application, switching speed, power consumption, area consumption, and so forth. In some cases, trade-offs between these factors may need to be considered in order to choose the most appropriate design.